1. Field
The present invention relates to an indoor unit of an air conditioner, and more particularly, to an indoor unit of an air conditioner in which discharge units respectively provided on upper and lower portions of the indoor unit have an improved discharge structure such that the discharge units are interchangeable.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, air conditioners are apparatuses that regulate the temperature, the humidity, the distribution of an air current, etc., suitable for human living using a refrigerating cycle and remove dust from air. The refrigerating cycle is composed of a compressor, a condenser, an evaporator, a blower fan, etc.
Air conditioners are divided into integration type air conditioners, in which a refrigerating cycle is installed in a single cabinet and the cabinet is installed on a window, and split type air conditioners, in which a refrigerating cycle is divided into two cabinets and the cabinets are respectively installed inside and outside a room. Split type air conditioners are divided into a wall-mounted type air conditioner, a standing type air conditioner, a ceiling-mounted type air conditioner, a ceiling-buried type air conditioner, etc., according to installation methods. Particularly, an air conditioner, which can be installed by various methods according to user's requirement, i.e., used as a wall-mounted type air conditioner or a standing type air conditioner, is referred to as a convertible type air conditioner.
In order to increase the cooling efficiency of a convertible type air conditioner, the direction of air discharged from an indoor unit of the convertible type air conditioner must be varied according to installation positions. For example, in the case that the indoor unit of the convertible type air conditioner stands on the floor, a discharge hole provided on an upper portion of the indoor unit of the air conditioner discharges air upwardly and a discharge hole provided on a lower portion of the indoor unit of the air conditioner discharges air forwardly so as to rapidly cool an indoor space. On the other hand, in the case that the indoor unit of the convertible type air conditioner is mounted on a wall, the discharge hole provided on the upper portion of the indoor unit of the air conditioner discharges air forwardly and the discharge hole provided on the lower portion of the indoor unit of the air conditioner discharges air downwardly so as to rapidly cool an indoor space.
However, convertible type air conditioners are put on the market under the condition that air discharging directions of upper and lower discharge holes of an indoor unit are already fixed. Thereby, in the case that an installation position is changed by the user's need, the cooling efficiency of an indoor space is lowered and abnormal noise is generated. For example, a wall-mounted type air conditioner is designed such that a discharge hole provided on the upper portion of an indoor unit discharges air forwardly and a discharge hole provided on the lower portion of the indoor unit discharges air downwardly. Thus, even in the case that the indoor unit of the wall-mounted type air conditioner stands on the floor according to a user's need, the discharge hole provided on the upper portion of the indoor unit discharges air forwardly and the discharge hole provided on the lower portion of the indoor unit discharges air downwardly. In this case, it takes a long time to cool down to the upper region of the indoor space, and thus power consumption is increased. Further, the air discharged from the lower discharge hole generates abnormal noise due to collision with the floor.
On the other hand, a standing type air conditioner is designed such that a discharge hole provided on the upper portion of an indoor unit discharges air upwardly and a discharge hole provided on the lower portion of the indoor unit discharges air forwardly. However, in the case that the indoor unit of the standing type air conditioner is mounted on a wall according to the user's need, the air discharged from the upper discharge hole generates abnormal noise due to collision with the ceiling.